Backlinks: tabs, Sync now and the weekly sync

The Backlinks page brings together the links pointing to your site, the ones you have lost and the ones that may be harmful. The data comes from the Backlinks API on your own DataForSEO account and is fetched per site.

#Before you start

• DataForSEO must be connected: Integrations → DataForSEO. Otherwise the page shows a DataForSEO is not connected card.
• You need edit rights to start a sync.

#Running the first sync

1. Open Backlinks and pick the site from the list at the top.
2. Click Sync now in the top-right corner. If there is no data yet, the same button also appears on the No backlink data yet card.
3. You will see “Backlink sync queued.” Refresh the page after a few minutes.

#What happens in the background

Sync now does not do the work on the spot. It adds a job to a background queue, and only one sync per site can wait in the queue at a time. When the worker picks it up, it:

1. Fetches the summary (backlinks, referring domains, nofollow domains, rank, broken links) and up to 500 links from DataForSEO.
2. Marks links with a spam score of 50 or more as Toxic and links removed by the source as Lost.
3. Moves links that were active in the previous sync but are no longer returned to Lost as well.
4. Saves a snapshot for the day. Each sync becomes one point on the 90-day trend chart.

After the first sync, the site is synced automatically every Thursday at 03:00 UTC. The weekly job only covers sites that have been synced at least once, so you have to start the first sync yourself.

#The tabs

The Opportunities tab needs competitors defined on the Competitors page first. Its results come back instantly and are not stored.

#Building a disavow file

1. Go to the Toxic tab. Newly found toxic links arrive with their Disavow switch on, so they are included in the file.
2. To keep a toxic link, turn its Disavow switch off. Later syncs never change your choice.
3. To disavow a link that is not toxic, turn on the Disavow switch on its row in the Links tab.
4. Click Download disavow file on the Toxic tab. The file lists only the domains of links whose Disavow switch is on, as domain: lines.
5. Upload the file in Search Console's Links Disavow tool.

#When a sync fails

If a background sync ends with a DataForSEO error, SEOAsist:

• adds a Sync failed notification under the bell icon (“… backlink sync failed”), with the reason underneath,
• sends the same message to the channels you enabled in notification settings (e-mail, Telegram, WhatsApp, webhook),
• writes an entry to the activity log.

You get this notification at most once every 12 hours per site. If the cause is on the account side, an orange DataForSEO is not working box also appears at the top of the page. You choose the channels under Settings → Notifications.

A successful sync also sends a warning when 3 or more links are lost. The first sync sends one if it finds 5 or more toxic links.

#Check that it worked

• On the Overview tab, the Last sync card shows the new date.
• The snapshot count under the chart title goes up.

#FAQ

#I clicked Sync now but nothing showed up. Why?

The sync runs in the background. Wait a few minutes and refresh. If it is still empty, check the notification under the bell icon. If it says your DataForSEO account is not verified, follow this article.

#Why do I see at most 500 links?

Each sync fetches up to 500 links, one per referring domain. The total backlink count is shown separately on the summary card.

#Why is the trend chart empty?

The chart needs at least two syncs. Once the weekly sync is running, a new point is added every week.

#Why was a link flagged as toxic?

A link counts as toxic when DataForSEO gives it a spam score of 50 or more. New toxic links arrive marked for the disavow file. To keep one, just switch its Disavow off; you don't need to edit the file by hand.